Paul and Penny have two young boys, Chester (4) and Darwin (2) and have lived in Auckland for the last two years. Having previously lived close to the mountains in Europe, they were committed to their kids growing up with that same snow and ski lifestyle in New Zealand, making Ohakune the logical place to find a holiday home.

They quickly found the ideal holiday home, and like many Bachcare customers, originally had planned to use it just for themselves and their family.

After further thought, they decided to investigate if it was worth renting out when they were not there. They were not sure how much effort it would take to prepare the property for bookings and deal with guests, so spoke to a New Owner Advisor at Bachcare.

The Bachcare team instantly reassured us that the tasks could be taken care of and would be ready for the upcoming ski season.

Paul and Penny knew they wouldn’t be able to manage it themselves living up in Auckland, so filled out the information pack from Bachcare and things progressed quickly.

Paul was in regular communication with the Bachcare local Holiday Manager throughout the process, as he had a lot of questions with it being their first holiday home. This included guidance and advice on pricing, knowledge about local festivals, other peak times of season plus the types of packages available. When asked about the whole process to getting their holiday home fully ‘live’ with Bachcare, Paul said:

We were very happy that Bachcare were able to manage everything and we’re now left to think of fun things like improvements we can make.

Holiday Manager Expertise

The local Bachcare Holiday Manager Jo keeps in regular contact with Paul and Penny. When we asked Paul and Penny about the impact of the Holiday Manager, they commented, “Jo has helped give great suggestions of things we can do to enhance the property, what things are expected in holiday homes and helped us with local knowledge for tradesmen and services - she’s even bought supplies and replacement items when we were unable to.” The setup and management is now so smooth that Paul mentioned,

The bookings will keep rolling on even if I did nothing!

Ongoing Support

Not only is there a big emphasis on having a close relationship with the local holiday manager, but there has also been plenty of support from the wider team at Bachcare. Paul states to us that, “The telephone and online support has been great, we have made countless updates and improvements to our property and the listing has been updated each time. Every question is answered promptly and I feel as if I can contact the company any time. The monthly statements have also been a massive help with our accounts!"

Upgrading and optimising

A big part of working with Bachcare is learning about the future goals of our owner community, helping them create plans and make the most of their holiday rental.

For Paul & Penny, over the last year they have worked hard to make their holiday home more desirable to guests and also make it more fun for them as a family. It was clear looking at room/bed configuration that the property was going to be booked out by one or two families with children, so they focused their improvements on what those families would like and need.

As Paul mentioned to us, “We ensured there was all the baby equipment you could need, added some toys and games, added a WII, SKY TV(Sports), some videos, books and a Nespresso machine. We also looked to remedy the things that were missing, so we built outside storage for skis and bikes. Over the summer we have also started to work on landscaping the garden and added a trampoline.”

If that hasn’t kept them busy enough, they have also extended the deck, added a spa and deck furniture as an extra touch of luxury.

As a result of this plan and working with Bachcare, we are seeing an increase in summer bookings

Future Plans

Looking ahead, Paul and Penny have recently purchased some land down in Ohakune to build a few other holiday homes on, as they have loved the experience and have found it easy working with Bachcare. In between teaching the kids how to ski, it sounds like a busy future!

With the aim to list these future holiday homes with Bachcare, Paul’s final piece of advice is to, “Make sure you get professional photos of your property as they really help. Adding a spa also really increases the number of bookings.”